


Like All Those Quiet People

by Anonymous



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Bribery, Cool motive still murder, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Murder, Post-War, Reconstruction is always messy, Tatooine (Star Wars), Would it be star wars without a scene in a bar, murder for love, vengeance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 05:21:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20130016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: After the highest officers in the First Order made a deal with the Third Republic make a deal in exchange for leniency, they are tried and exiled, scattered across the galaxy without money, connections, or a prayer.The Former Supreme Leader of the First Order has been exiled to a secret, unknown planet somewhere in the galaxy.Rey fully intends to find him if it kills her.





	Like All Those Quiet People

Armitage Hux wasn’t on Arkanis. 

Rey knew because she went there herself, scouring various estates, villages, and hidey-holes for him. Ben wasn’t there, either, but Rey hadn’t thought they’d send either of them somewhere with such a strong tie to the Empire. Even though the Imperial academy had been moved after Emperor Palpatine’s death, Arkanis still harbored a very pro-Imperial side. Exiling the Supreme Leader of the First Order and its most formidable general to Arkanis would be foolhardy, but Rey had to be sure. 

Ben didn’t know where he’d been sent. Whenever he appeared to her, he couldn’t give her any details, having been transported without being able to see where he was. It was a smart move, since he couldn’t give anyone specific directions to rescue him. If he wanted to escape, he’d have to send out a wide beacon, which would just call any Resistance or Third Republic guards to wherever he was. 

Her Ben was trapped. And she didn’t know where he was. 

Exhausted and in need of refueling, Rey landed on Tatooine. She wasn’t going to spend the night here, but it would be a nice break to get a drink and a chance to refuel before finding somewhere else to hide and sleep. She briefly considered trying to fly into the desert and sleep on her ship, but she knew the Jawas were clever and determined. Her ship was small, efficient, and in excellent condition, which meant she’d be robbed blind if she stayed on Tatooine long enough. 

Rey found a fueling station run by the least untrustworthy person she could find, a Twi’lek who had clearly been a dancing girl in another life, but who’d managed to carve out a place for herself after she’d been tossed aside by her “employers” for the sin of being too old. Rey scanned her mind and found a hard, distrustful mind behind those amber eyes, but not a dishonest one. Rey stood watch while they refueled and decided, as a reward for not trying to cheat her, she would pay the Twi’lek’s full original asking price for the fuel. For anyone else, she would have haggled down at least a little, but not today. This soul was tired enough as it was. Rey wasn’t going to press down on her more.

Rey was just leaving the garage to get a drink before departing when she saw him: Hux. Armitage Hux. Somehow, he’d been dropped off on Tatooine, the birthplace of Darth Kriffing Vader, for exile. Remembering his pale skin, however, Rey thought this might actually be fair punishment. 

Under the brown and white cloth that Hux had wrapped around every exposed inch of his body, he was unrecognizable. However, Rey remembered both his force signature and the stiff and militaristic gait that he’d had. Ben had stormed down every hallway, a juggernaut with his own sense of gravity, but Hux always walked like he had a stick in his arse and wanted to keep it in place. 

Rey followed Hux into the pub. No one greeted her, which she was more than fine with. One of the things she enjoyed about planets like Tatooine was the consistent lack of any kind of order or helpfulness. In other places, like Naboo, people were friendly and open, which made Rey suspicious. Surly bartenders and underhanded mechanics made more sense to her. She sat at the bar, far away from Hux, but still keeping an eye out for him.

The ambient noise around her suddenly faded down to nothing. She could see the band was still performing, but she heard none of it. The corner of her mouth lifted, but she kept her expression casual, since she didn’t want anyone to notice she was reacting to someone who wasn’t even there. 

“You found him,” Ben said behind her.

Rey glanced over her shoulder casually and saw Ben standing a few feet behind her. His dark hair was swept back out of his face, revealing a gentle smile. 

“I did,” Rey said, sipping her drink and turning the face to bar. 

“You are incredible,” Ben said, walking over to her and standing next to the bar to face her. In recent months, their roles had reversed, so Ben could see her surroundings, but she couldn’t see his. This was better for her because she had an audience as much more often than he did. 

“I’m not finished, yet,” Rey whispered, watching Hux get off his barstool and slip into the back of the bar. A young woman trailed after him, trying to stay casual. Rey stood up, tossing a few extra credits down for the bartender, who didn’t moved towards the money or look up from the spot of the bar’s surface he was methodically scrubbing while she moved across the bar’s somewhat-crowded dancefloor. 

Rey touched the prostitute’s elbow with one arm, which made the girl jump. 

“How much is he paying you?” Rey asked, cutting her eyes to the door Hux waited behind. 

“Two hundred credits,” the girl said, frowning. She clearly thought that Rey was trying to either pouch Hux for herself or poach her from Hux. 

“I’ll give you five hundred to walk away right now,” Rey said. She leaned down to speak into the girl’s eye, angling her body to lean in just enough that anyone watching would just see a normal proposition. 

The girl glanced up at Rey, but kept her face mostly neutral. When Rey slid the credits into the girl’s palm, she leaned up and pressed a kiss to Rey’s jaw, just like she would for a client, “you gunna kill him?” 

“Not if he doesn’t force me to,” Rey said. This girl got lied to far too often for Rey not to give her this honesty.

“Well, um… when your done, if you want to come find me with the others, I’ll give you some personal time... on the house,” the girl said. She smiled, looking up at Rey sheepishly, “I haven’t had anything to eat all day, so I’m definitely going to want a big meal.” 

“Maybe,” Rey said, winking. The girl slunk away, her cheeks flushed and her smile sultry. 

“You’re taken,” Ben said flatly, having been witness to at least half of the conversation as well as Rey’s body language.

Rey smirked, “she doesn’t know that. And she’ll be waiting in her quarters all night, rather than out here attracting attention.” she opened the door just as Ben disappeared, pulled back into the Force without any more warning than they ever got.

Hux sat on a small cot, already totally naked. Rey rolled her eyes, casually putting out a hand as she closed the door behind her. Hux was forced flat against the mattress, his eyes wide and wild with fear. Rey absently gestured with a finger of her other hand, causing one of his many wraps to fly into his mouth. She crossed to the bed and sat down next to Tage’s hip, pointedly ignoring anything besides his eyes. 

“You’re not going to run or scream,” Rey said, pushing on Hux’s mind with the Force. She’d come a long way since she ordered that storm trooper to let her up from her chair and to leave her cell open. Now, even someone as strong minded as Armitage Hux was within her power to control, at least a little bit.

“I- I- I-” Hux mumbled, clearly fighting.

“You are not going to run or scream,” Rey said again, pressing harder. 

“I am not going to run or scream,” Hux said, his struggles finally giving way to a monotone. 

“Good,” Rey said. She kept him bound, but that was mostly for her own comfort. Hux might be faking it. That snake was just wily enough to do something like that. 

“Did they put all of the exiles on this planet?” Rey asked, crossing one leg across her knee and tapping her lightsaber absently against the side of her boot. 

“No,” Hux mumbled. He clearly didn’t want to tell her anything, but he wasn’t an idiot. 

“You were the last one dropped off, though, weren’t you?” Rey said, “they had to, in order to get you all the money they agreed to give you.” 

Hux’s eyes practically bulged out of his skull, but Rey rolled her eyes and said, “I know you made a deal. That’s the only reason you weren't thrown into space where Hosnian Prime used to be.” 

Hux did an admirable job of hiding his emotions, especially not just displaying them across his face, but Rey could feel the terror in him through the Force. So, she was guessing correct. 

Rey didn’t have to look over at Ben to know that he’d reappeared. She’d grown used to the way Ben’s presence softened the ambient noise around her, even Hux’s barely-controlled breathing. 

“Rey, be careful,” Ben said softly. He always spoke so honestly and with so much care that it still sometimes caught her off-guard. The admiration and concern that he had for her was like cool water on Jakku. Sometimes it was downright dizzying and distracting. 

“Where is he?” Rey asked.

Hux stared at her, his mouth hanging open, “I- who?”

Of course, he hadn’t known that she and Ben were… whatever they were. Now, she could say they were in love, although that idea felt weird to her after a childhood filled with abandonment. She decided to change her tactic and said, “where were the others dropped off? What planets?”

“I don’t know,” Hux said, his voice tight at the displeasure of not being in the know. After years as a general it must be infuriating to be in this position. He’d gone from someone who was always using information and guile to get what he wanted to absolute powerlessness. The Resistance had chose well when they picked Tatooine. Armitage Hux had been dropped off on a nowhere planet, far away from anyone who would help him. 

Except, he wasn’t just an ex-First Order general, relegated to a short life of struggle and obscurity. This was Armitage Hux. The one responsible for Ben’s exile. The one who’d convinced the Resistance to trust him. The one who’d cost her a life with Ben. 

Rey ignited her lightsaber, stood, and removed Armitage Hux’s head from his shoulders. She looked at Ben, who met her gaze steadily, even as the smell of Hux’s charred flesh filled the room, “I’m going to find you,” she promised.

“I know,” Ben said, even as he began to fade. 

Rey walked to the door, making sure to open it clearly and to look at the bartender. She couldn’t take the girl with her, but she wasn’t going to let someone go after that girl because of Hux’s death. Although, he would mostly likely be dumped in the desert the next morning and forgotten. 

Just like Rey forgot about him.

**Author's Note:**

> Title based on the quote:  
“It's like all those quiet people, when they do lose their tempers they lose them with a vengeance.”  
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders


End file.
